Hometown favorite restaurant STREET’Za made it happen for us. They have been taking Bitcoin and a handful of other cryptocurrencies since they opened in 2017. Their sister restaurant STREET led the way for Portsmouth and the entire Seacoast region by being the first in town to accept the new currency. Their adventurism has paid off big-time, regularly drawing in new business from cryptocurrency lovers from out of town and even out of state.

Only 4 people RSVP’d to the event, but you never can tell with these things. Eleven people showed up! One attendee works for Coinbase in New York City. He received some playful ribbing. Another has a business setting up merchants to take cryptocurrency. A few asked for his card. One was finance professor at a local university researching ICOs. He asked about classes at the Blockchain Institute of Technology. Three were students home for the summer. They installed their first hot wallets on their phones and loaded them with some coins. Attendee ages ranged from 16 to 55, with the average probably around 30. The Boston Bitcoin Meetup the previous Saturday drew in 4 people total, one from Haverhill and one from Portland.

Bitcoin Pizza Day 2018 at STREET’Za in Portsmouth

The best part? Everyone used cryptocurrency to pay. Without exception. Some friendly nudging was offered when all but 2 attendees paid with Dash instead of Bitcoin. Rightly, these people were ridiculed. After all, we were there for Bitcoin Pizza Day. But then again, Dash has benefits over Bitcoin that make it more attractive for customers. First, transaction fees are lower. Much lower. Like 20 times lower. Those who paid with Bitcoin paid an extra twenty cents in fees on top of their payment compared with Dash’s fee of less than one cent.

Bitcoin Pizza Day 2018 at STREET’Za in Portsmouth

Not really a big deal, but then get this: Dash-Back. Because STREET’Za accepts their crypto using the Anypay digital cash register, their customers receive an instant rebate when they pay with Dash. In my case, I paid $12.50 for some chicken wings and received a dollar of Dash right back into my wallet. Not bad. All things being equal, when faced with the choice between two cryptocurrencies, using Dash makes a lot of sense if the merchant is using Anypay. Why not use the coin that pays you to use it instead of the one that you have to pay extra to use?

Here are some shots of folks enjoying and paying for their meals.

Bitcoin Pizza Day 2018 at STREET’Za in Portsmouth

Bitcoin Pizza Day 2018 at STREET’Za in Portsmouth

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Many of the attendees asked if they could pay the server’s tip with their crypto. The manager said yes and took the tips on his phone with the promise to pass them along to our server after setting her up with her own wallets, or paying her out in cash (whatever her preference). In the past, this has been a great way to introduce new people to crypto. They know it has real value because they can see it being used to buy things where they work.

Bitcoin Pizza Day 2018 at STREET’Za in Portsmouth

So…How was Bitcoin Pizza Day in your town? If it was uninspiring, consider moving to New Hampshire, the Crypto Capital of the World!

Jacks my love, the economy as a whole has been in hibernation for a few months now. Even our dear friend Paul Krugman is getting worried. Fortunately, us freedom-loving types have been trading bitcoins anyway during these lean times. It’s one of the few commodities still worth trading, you know. But you’d only know that if you bothered to paid attention to these sorts of things.

Oh and Jacks? Mark Edge daringly responded to your delightful little criticism of Free Talk Live’s recent climb on the Talkers Heavy Hundred. Maybe you should go back and confront his audaciousness – you know, to save face? Come on Jacks, you show him who’s boss!

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on May 23, 2018 at 5:42 pm

I find it humorous that while your average individual suffers at the hands of government us crypto fanatics (as some might call us) have done extremely well over the past 2-5 years. I have saved about $10k alone this past year through SaveAtPurse.com which lets me buy stuff off Amazon at a discount. This doesn’t include th benefits that I’ve received from the increasing value of holding and using crypto currencies over the US dollars. While crypto currencies have dips they also have gone in an upward direction overall much more than a downward one. If your like me that means you’ve made out well provided you’ve been regularly using it and have had crypto currency over the long haul. And if your a business owner like me it’s saved my business a ton of money because where we regularly accept credit cards and paypal we now accept Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash of which both save around 3% plus reduce our risk of charge back which otherwise normally eat up another 3% or so. We also have saved money because haven’t had to pay 3% on top of the goods we purchase from other companies where we have paid in crypto. It’s absolutely insane to suggest that Bitcoin is anything other than awesome compared to fiat currencies and while I would agree that Bitcoin specifically is not the best for payments anymore within the crypto currency landscape it is still a useful crypto currency that beats fiat currencies and any traditional transaction systems based on it (including cash which has an economic cost too).